By José Arrieta.
Disney's new children's production, called "Primos", raised an unexpected controversy in social networks after exhibiting its first moments at the Annecy Festival, France, considered the most important in animation and which has Mexico as its guest country for this edition.
Set in a fictional city called "Terremoto Heights", the series portrays the life of Tater Ramirez Humphrey, a 10-year-old Mexican-American girl who, according to the official synopsis, is in search of her dreams.
Things get complicated when her twelve Mexican cousins arrive to spend the summer at the family home. However, despite this, her relatives will allow her to learn more about herself and help her achieve her ambitions.
Both the name of the fictitious town, the number of people crammed into a single house, the yellow ochre filter and even the names of some characters, such as "Nacho" or "Cuquita", which they accuse of being generic, were harshly criticized in social networks.
"How many filters did this passed? Didn't anyone warn that it is incorrect to say 'Hey, Primos'? Didn't anyone think it was messed up to put 'Terremoto Springs' (sic) to a Latin American city? I'm not usually offended by these things but... even the name of a character has a sexual connotation in some countries," dubbing actor Ale Graue wrote on the social network.
The series follows a large number of characters, and we meet a varied cast of boys and girls with the most generic names such as 'Nacho', 'Anita', 'Gordita' and 'Cuquita'. It is precisely the latter that has generated quite a stir in social networks, as the term has several meanings in different Latin American countries. In Colombia, for example, it is a way of saying 'vagina', while in Mexico it would be the diminutive of 'Cuca', a very popular name.
(The creator of the series talking down to someone actually Latin American)
Created by Natasha Klein, the series depicts the family chaos that, according to the producer and leader of the project, she experienced in her childhood inside her own home, as an American with Mexican roots.
"Everything I do goes through this lens, it's the culture I was raised and grew up in, it's my family culture, it was all over the place where I grew up, so everything I do is influenced by it. Every note I took, every scene I did, is inspired by who I am and the culture I grew up in," Klein said at a panel where she explained the motivations behind the cartoon.
Kline, who voices a character named "Gordita" in the show, has been part of the production team for series and films such as "Big City Greens," "Star vs. the Forces of Evil" and "Lego Ninjago: The Movie," for which she received an Emmy Award nomination.
So far, Disney has not made any official pronouncement about the series, which is scheduled to arrive on television through Disney Channel and streaming through Disney+.
Article (The article is in Spanish.)
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